Unmanned water vessels, also termed USV (unmanned surface vessel) and UUV (unmanned underwater vehicles) are increasingly becoming more in demand for applications in for instance the offshore industry and military. USVs and UUVs are often launched and recovered from a mother vessel while at sea.
Safety is always a large concern during all types of launch and recovery of both manned and unmanned vehicles. Manned vehicles have the obvious advantage of having a person onboard which can perform the required connections between the vehicle and a mother vessel, while with unmanned vessels the recovery without a person onboard is more difficult. Many users of for example USVs and UUVs, today launch personnel with a rescue boat and then transfer them to the USV/UUV in open sea, this is a dangerous operation and should be avoided.
In the prior art various systems for launch and recovery of unmanned water vessels have been described.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,851 A disclose a system for launch and recovery of an unmanned vessel. The system comprises an automatic capture of a towing line and a crane with a cradle suitable for said vessel. The system requires a cradle specially adapted to the unmanned vessel that is used. The design of the unmanned vessel is also constrained by the need of a tower due to the specific method for capturing a towing line.
WO 2007/033384 A2 disclose a system for recovery of an unmanned water vessel. The system comprises a cable for capturing the vessel. Side planers are used to direct the capture cable out from a host vessel and into close contact with the unmanned vessel.